Green Homes

I have been working with a large block of flats which have been designed with the same specification they had 2 years ago, but regulations have moved on and with all the enviromental concerns for the future the way we build new housing stock had to change.

 

Maybe you would think the easiest most cost effective way to heat each flat in an area with no gas is electric, but this will no longer pass building regulations with the target emission rates that all new housing has to meet. Unfortunately, the developer will have higher costs, having to provide other forms of heating which might include solar water heating, community heating, airsource heat pumps etc, but the eventual occupants of these units will feel the benefit in their pocket for years to come especially as we face ever increasing fuel bills and carbon taxes into the future.

 

There is some evidence that there is an increase in value of these units of 5% on a property without these technologies and if I was to buy a new build home I would be looking for one with the highest score in energy efficiency as I hate to waste money. My wish is to see some positive education coming from the government as you see in other countries to help the public understand the minefield of new jargon within this industry. If Developers and Local Authorities do not understand what Code for Sustainable Homes means then I am sure that the public will not understand how much of a financial and environmental benefit it will make to them.

 

Developers should make sure they get good advice at design stage otherwise these changes could lead to expensive retro fit to gain completion certificates. 

It appears that Developers, councils and Energy Assessors are finding it hard to understand the difference between the different types of EPC, some don't even know there is a difference. An RdSAP EPC is used for existing buildings that do not require any form of building regs. A full SAP EPC is required on virtually all properties requiring building regs (Part L), from adding an extension to an existing property, converting a house into flats, to a whole new development of dwellings.

It is important to get the right type of EPC at design stage as this reflects in building regs at the point of sign off (a RdSAP EPC will not produce Emission Rate calculations for the site or SAP Calculations required by building control.).

We have seen numerous sites fail their emission rates because it was not taken into account at the point of design, only carried out retrospectively.

A new extension should have a full SAP EPC carried out at design stage with a notional extension, then offset upgrades to the existing property against the consumption of the extension.

 

Example - 1960's house is having an extension added to the kitchen, but the original house has an old boiler, 50mm loft insulation and no cavity wall insulation. The calculation would show a BR compliant extension with the house in it's original condition. However, if the owner decided that at this point they would upgrade the existing property, installing a new condensing boiler, 300mm loft insulation and cavity wall insulation, then as long as the overall rating of the completed building is not worse than the notional extension and existing property then costs can be saved on the actual build. All of these calculations should be done at the design stage kept for Building Control.

 

It may be that grants can be used to upgrade the existing envelope and boiler.

 

If you want to discuss further I am happy to answer any questions.

HIP Online Fraud

We are getting increasing numbers of calls from people that have paid for a  HIP online and have never received their HIP. After Watchdog covered one awful online HIP provider, there seems to be other rogues following suit. For that reason we asked that you call our office so you know we really exist. If it sounds too cheap to be true, it probably is. - Sarah Jones

"Since the launch of HIPs I am concerned to hear about the poor standard of some of the HIPs being produced by this new industry for consumers. Solicitors complaining that they have been unable to use the HIPs provided for their purchase, due to poor insurance policies, non-compliant documents within the HIP or quite simply mistakes made whilst the HIP is being compiled. This is of great concern to everyone purchasing a HIP for the sale of their home, especially in the current market conditions, when a vendor needs the sale transaction to be as speedy as possible."  Sarah Jones  Director of Green Homes.

At a Christmas party I attended there were seven firms of solicitors, six of which use and recommend Green Homes. This really was a compliment. I had the opportunity of introducing solicitors that had spoken on the phone to each other for years, but had never met. Great evening.

Sarah Jones